My little pet peeve with sps and taking photos

[coralbeauties]

I am a sps addict like everyone else on here lurking at all hours of the night and day reading and drooling over the pics that people post. I would like to see more pictures taken from the side as if I were viewing the coral through the glass. I dont know about everyone else but I view my corals from the side while sitting in my chair. from what I have noticed alot of corals are just not all that when viewed from the side compared to viewing from the top. I bought a variety of strawberry shortcake last summer and from the top it is really cool but from the side view you dont see the coloration of this coral. I am acutally going to sell it at the next swap just for that reason. when I am looking to buy new corals I would just really love to see what they look like from the side. I have been looking to buy some higher end pieces but all the pics are from the top looking down and I dont want to spend 100- 200$ for a small piece of coral and be dissapointed like I was with the shortcake frag.
sorry for my rant. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing.
Jeff

 

[Rob.D]

Corals have most all their coloration on the top due to the fact that they use the pigmentation as a sun screen. This is a recent article on the matter: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/advancedaquarist-com/190518-genetic-basis-sps-colors.html

 

[Triggreef]

My strawberry shortcake was stunning from the side as well as the top. Could just be your lights. Or maybe the specific strain of the coral, a SSC is not a SSC is not a SSC... Or maybe some other factor.

 

[Tom Blevins]

My strawberry shortcake was stunning from the side as well as the top. Could just be your lights. Or maybe the specific strain of the coral, a SSC is not a SSC is not a SSC... Or maybe some other factor.

Ditto my Shades of Fall was off the hook top and side, now take a moment to bow are heads!

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Top down makes everything look nicer-what really sucks are the clams-bright beautiful colors from the top down and then through the tank, I can't even see 70% of that vibrancy.

I'll see if I can post a couple shots tomorrow of wild SC I got years ago, I think top down and through the tank are pretty spot on but top down hands down will always produce more pop. Typically I have to post top down, it's the only way I can get decent shot of the acro. In order to get a good shot, you have to turn off the pumps, grab the tripod, use a timer and hope the fish don't awim in front of the shot. The other option, garb the ladder and the avast tube and top down hahaha

IMO it's still "shooter" not taking time to post edit the pic to make the coral look "correct" but correct for me is that 18k look, to others it may be that 24k or all blue. I don't view my tank in actinic, whether that be T5 or 450-460nm LED so why post those black light photos :crazy:

My phone even has an edit option under color where I can reduce the blue, I have to think the vast majority of cameras do, and I'll go out on a limb and say nearly ever sponsor shoots with a DSLR so whats there excuse (those that don't "edit" in a good way)

I'm off topic and need to stop, I'm raising my BP and going off topic-LOL

Good question Jeff

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Side vs Top

real quick, just snapped it so its rough but they are pretty close IMO-This was a wild piece I got a frag of about 4 years ago, It was sold to me as "Strawberry Shortcake" I have 4 variations of SSC one being ORA which Ive heard it called SC and not SSC-anyway, going off on another tangent back to side vs top


Side;

Top down;

 

[Big E]

Both your shots are from above.....................that's not really a side shot. I will say/agree that not all shortcakes are the same. Some are more pink than red......it depends on what you want.

Some corals don't look nowhere near as nice from directly straight on and I agree that full coverage lighting from many angles will make the corals look more colorful as more of the actual colony will get light.

One thing I always try to do is make my stand lower so when you're standing, your looking down at the corals so you see more color. Making the rockwork low profile will help.

The best advice is get rid of corals that don't look good straight on. Although I don't think SSC is a coral that looks boring straight on..................just get a good specimen.

 

[maroun.c]

I had that issue in my old tank where the scape was high. Looking through the glass I could only see the underside of most SPS which was annoying. Suggest u lower your scape to get a top view of your corals even when looking from the side.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Both your shots are from above.....................that's not really a side shot.

You gotta be kidding me or maybe when you read side shot you were thinking of something you take with a pint as in "A pint of Guiness please and a side shot" :yo:


The top pick was taken from the left side of the tank "looking into the tank" hense a "side shot" the other was a top down-but wait I said that already :bowl:

 

[coralbeauties]

Brad
Your photos are always fantastic. I also have 2 different ssc versions. One of them is tall and bunched tight but color only shows up from viewed from above. The other is a cherry corals version and it is spread open quite a bit and is red tipped. I would like to pick up some rr corals but would love to know what they look like from the side before I spend $100 to $200 for alittle stick.
rob.d
thanks for the link to the article. I will take a look at it.
Jeff

 

[MatteZ]

I agree with you on this topic! Another peeve of mine is about the close macro shots. They are absolutely gorgeous but the coral only looks like that in the picture. So unless you plan on printing the picture out and hanging it on the wall its not what you see in the tank

So it bothers me when they use those pictures to sell corals

 

[TankedNTn]

Sometimes I'd just like to see where in the tank they have a certain coral so I can get a better idea of where they like to be. But mostly all you see are the macro shots. Very pretty, but it tells me nothing and helps even less.

 

[tonymission]

Most times an itty bitty frag is going to be disappointing after you just saw a mother colony pic.

 

[Big E]

You gotta be kidding me or maybe when you read side shot you were thinking of something you take with a pint as in "A pint of Guiness please and a side shot" :yo:


The top pick was taken from the left side of the tank "looking into the tank" hense a "side shot" the other was a top down-but wait I said that already :bowl:

The coral is angled down slightly, so it's getting more light from above regardless if you took it from the side window. Don't get your panties in a uproar,,,,,,,,it's just semantics.



Top Down-& Side angle

 

[tyler1503]

real quick, just snapped it so its rough but they are pretty close IMO-This was a wild piece I got a frag of about 4 years ago, It was sold to me as "Strawberry Shortcake" I have 4 variations of SSC one being ORA which Ive heard it called SC and not SSC-anyway, going off on another tangent back to side vs top


Side;

Top down;

Sorry to go off topic here, but I'm loving this piece! I'm not really an acro fan usually so I don't know a lot about them. Could you please tell me the scientific name of this piece if you don't mind?
Thanks

 

[Reefnjunkie]

@ Tyler1503- not sure of the scientific name, I can look at Acropora from this link and it's to difficult with my little experiance to identify with certaintity different sub species

Corals of the World - All Factsheets

bige- panties not bunched so no worries, just wanted to correct you when you posted what you did- I tend to see text in black and white and try not to interpret what the poster meant to say...top=top, side=side, your semantics remark and bringing angle into the equation reminds me of politicians-:cry:

All is good in the junkie house, no offense meant nor any taken

:focus:

 

[Tom Blevins]

Perdy!

real quick, just snapped it so its rough but they are pretty close IMO-This was a wild piece I got a frag of about 4 years ago, It was sold to me as "Strawberry Shortcake" I have 4 variations of SSC one being ORA which Ive heard it called SC and not SSC-anyway, going off on another tangent back to side vs top


Side;

Top down;

 

[Tom Blevins]

Big E what is this piece?

Tom

The coral is angled down slightly, so it's getting more light from above regardless if you took it from the side window. Don't get your panties in a uproar,,,,,,,,it's just semantics.



Top Down-& Side angle

 

[Chameleon]

Big E what is this piece?

Tom

Looks a little like Paletta pink tip but we'll wait for Big E's verdict.

 

[Tom Blevins]

Thanks